So Amazon and Google studies, along with most Web performance asay that a fast page load will equate to higher sales, or longer visitor stays to click on advertising. But, is this really the case?<p>Could the slowest the site on the internet with amazing content that draws the visitor in do just as well with the fastest Website on the planet which has boring content or unattractive offers?
Speed is not the ONLY factor for conversions but it definitely is a factor in the same way that aesthetics affects conversions. If you set up an A/B Test with Test A being "the slowest site on the internet with amazing content" and Test B being the same website but slightly faster, I'd bet Test B would have higher conversions.
Speed is an important factor. I like optimizing it because increasing speed has no downside if it's done properly. Optimizing speed usually has side benefits as well. For example, cutting a lot of heavy images results in a more attractive page. Optimizing data queries on a production site leads to improving tests.
According to both Amazon and Google, it matters immensely. I can't find the link right now, but Amazon said they found a noticeable step-up of conversion loss in their sales funnel for each 200 milliseconds of 'slow' they added.<p>Meaning, faster is better.